Born Of Two Worlds
by The Late Arthur Dent
Summary: Zoe Fassam is awaiting eagerly her acceptance letter to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but when a Satyr turns up instead, and she is whisked away to a camp full of people who claim impossible things, she must choose her fate. But this isn't a normal year at Hogwarts, and there is strife at the camp, 1994 is not going to be an easy year for Zoe Fassam.


Chapter 1 – bit of a dodgy beginning.

Zoe Fassam opened her eyes, breathing deeply. Calm. She forced herself not to scramble out of bed and check the post. It had only been the 4th of July for 3 hours, it was unlikely that the postman was up that early. Then again, maybe they didn't use postmen…she closed her eyes again and imagined what it would look like if she had one of those letters, the same as Paul. Her older brother was still at Hogwarts, he wouldn't be home for another 11 days, and when he came home, she was bursting to tell him that she had been accepted – but the problem was, she didn't know if she even had been accepted. Although it was her eleventh birthday, Zoe had shown no sign of magical ability. Her mother was a witch, and her elder brother an accomplished wizard, in his last year at Hogwarts, but so far, there was no evidence that she was about to follow in their footsteps.

Zoe had once asked her mother about her dad, whether he had been a muggle? But Claire hadn't been able to tell her. One night stand. Other people might be upset to hear that their father didn't know they existed, and that their parents were never really in love, or even a relationship, but Zoe had gotten over that fact at once. She knew that the death of Paul's dad had heavily affected her mum and was sure that whoever her dad was, he had managed to make her happy with the gift of a daughter. She unclosed her eyes. There was no way she was going back to sleep. This day was the day she had been waiting for for a very long time, the 11th of July, 1994 – her 11th birthday, and the day she would find out if Hogwarts were going to accept her.

Paul had told fantastic tales about his time at Hogwarts for so many years, how in his fifth year, people were being attacked by what turned out to be a giant snake from a hidden chamber in the school, and in his fourth, a troll got into the school at Haloween! Last year, he had come home telling stories about an escaped mass murderer who broke into the Gryffindor common room. He forbade Zoe from telling their mum, because he didn't think her nerves could take it, _and he's not even in Gryffindor, he's a Ravenclaw because he's so smart! _Zoe had thought. She didn't think their mum needed to know either, it might mean she couldn't go if she got the letter, and Paul was in his last year now anyway, heading to the ministry to become a cure analyst like he had once explained to her. She was so excited for starting that she was fit to burst…_but there's always a chance I'm not going to go…_she told herself as she sat up and looked out of her window. _If I don't get in, then of course I'll be disappointed, but mum needs some company, If Paul's off doing some analyst thing at a ministry, I can stay at home, and go to a normal school with my friends._

She back down in bed, sinking against the pillows, and flicked her bedside lamp on so that she could read. Her favourite book lay at the side of her bed, the only book she was really able to read without too much difficulty - Αρχαία Ελλάδα, Η ιστορία των Θεών, or "_Ancient Greece, the story of the Gods."_ Zoe didn't know what was so fascinating about it, but she loved to read all about them and their intricate family history. Her favourite god was Artemis, Goddess of hunting and the wilderness. She seemed so cool and relaxed, and so on-top-of-everything that Zoe knew they would get along.

After she had read four chapters of her book, Apollo, Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite and then of course Artemis, she got up and went downstairs, sitting on the floor by the door, waiting. It was still only half past four in the morning, and when Claire got up to go to the toilet, she noticed Zoe's open bedroom door. Sighing to herself, she descended the stairs and found her daughter sitting patiently, wide awake, staring at the letterbox.  
"Honey, you can't sit here until the post comes." Claire said softly.  
"I can, and I will. Mum, I need to know as soon as the letter comes, and this is the best way to make sure of that."  
"Sweetie, the post won't come for another four hours. Why don't I make us some hot chocolate and we can go back upstairs?"  
Zoe stared at her mum with the _You can't pull that one on me_ look she was famous for.  
"I didn't say you had to go to bed, or to sleep. But let's just go up ok? You go up, sit on my bed, I'll get you some chocolate, and we'll have a chat?"  
Zoe smiled. "Ok." She said as she stood up and started up the stairs. Claire's room was in between Paul's and Zoe's. It was also the smallest room. When Zoe had asked why she had taken the small room, her mum said "I don't need to grow anymore." Zoe had laughed and taken the second biggest, with Paul in the large one at the end of the hall. After Paul got his letter, the switched rooms as he wasn't going to be home. Zoe headed into the smallest room now, and she immediately relaxed. She loved her mum's room. The hawthorn wood wand lay on the bedside table, along with a book about potion making, Claire's favourite Hogwarts subject. The walls were painted purple, with small randomly sized black square outlines interlocking and looping around each other. As she watched them they moved, interlocking and unlocking, wiggling around the walls in the way Zoe loved. Chaos was her middle name and these paintings satisfied her need for untidiness. The bed was in the middle of the wall, extending into the room. The bedspread was orange, clashing in a fantastic way with the purple walls. Zoe smiled and leaped onto the bed, sitting right in the middle waiting for her mum to come back up with the chocolate.

Most other children would have been able to go back to sleep at that time in the morning if told to remain motionless on a bed, however Zoe's ADHD was getting the best of her, and her mother understood this and allowed her to walk around the room as they talked. Zoe talked endlessly about Hogwarts and its secret passages and hidden chambers, her mother told her stories of her time there. Slowly, together, they passed the time there very quickly. Zoe loved talking to her mum, almost as much as she loved talking to Paul about Hogwarts, they were her link to the magical world – at least until she got her letter, or managed to produce some magic of her own. After they had exhausted all conversation on Hogwarts, Claire amused Zoe with small spells, charming objects to fly around the room, or do cartwheels, and shooting clouds of multi-coloured smoke into the air. Zoe clapped her hands and laughed as the smoke formed shapes and swirled around in the air.

"Purple elephant?" her mum laughed as she twirled her wand and an elephant soared into the air, snorting a loud cry as it flew around the room.  
"And there's something else I'm sure you want to see…now that it's past 7, you'd be awake anyway, so I suppose I can give you … this!" she waved her wand in a rectangle and a cuboid box wrapped in blue and green paper and a yellow ribbon appeared and fell onto the bed. Zoe brushed her long hair out of her eyes and beamed at her mum.  
"It's a book isn't it." She said, voice quivering in excitement.  
"Open it and see. Thought you'd like this one." Claire answered with a little laugh. She watched with an uncertain smile on her face as Zoe tore the paper away to reveal, yes, a book. "Apollo, the god of the sun, and Artemis, goddess of the moon." Zoe read out loud. "Oh thank you thank you thank you thank you!"

Claire watched Zoe flick avidly through the pages, eager to learn, easily deciphering the Greek as she had been able to since she was so young. Claire wondered how much longer she should wait before telling her about her father's true identity – the reason she could read this Greek, the reason she was different…maybe why she wasn't displaying any magical ability.

Birthday breakfast was served half an hour later, Zoe's favourite – a slightly grilled cheese bagel smothered with baked beans. They talked about the Gods and Hogwarts, waited for the mail, watched the TV, and waited for the mail. But the mail didn't come. Zoe tried as hard as she could to be happy and enjoy her birthday, but all she wanted was a letter from Dumbledore. When it came to eleven o'clock, Claire insisted on bed, but Zoe was so distraught about the lack of a letter that she refused. After the fourth time her mum asked her to go to bed, Claire had had enough.  
"Zoe Louise Minerva Fassam! You get to bed this instant!" she shouted. There were tears, tantrums, but sometimes parents know what's best, and the truth was, Claire was almost as disappointed as Zoe, and she didn't want her daughter to see it. As Zoe slowly made her way up the stairs Claire followed her. "Happy birthday sweetie. I'm sorry you didn't get the letter. Maybe it'll come tomorrow? They normally come around your birthday not necessarily on it, Paul's came three days before, and mine came two days after. Don't give up hope."

Zoe sighed and got into her bed as her mum tucked her in, just like she used to when she was younger.  
"Mum, tell me about your sorting?" Zoe asked as her mum stroked her hair.  
"I've told you…"  
"I know…but please tell me."  
Claire sighed but smiled at the same time. "Ok honey. Well, the sorting hat was unsure about me. I was what they call a hat-stall. That means the hat couldn't decide which house to put me in. It was completely torn between two houses. When it decided on Slytherin, I have to tell you I was surprised. I really saw myself as a Hufflepuff. And when I talked to professor Slughorn about it afterwards, he said it was very rare for a hat-stall to have been torn between Slytherin and Hufflepuff. It's normally Slytherin/Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff/Gryffindor. Having heard so much about Slytherin on the train on the way, I wasn't sure I wanted to be in that house. It maybe would have been better if I was in Hufflepuff, just because I was so naïve compared to the rest of the Slytherins, but I grew because of it. It just shows that no matter what house you are in, it will be what's right for you. Paul is in Ravenclaw because that's the best place for him to exercise his clever mind. And that Harry Potter – he's a Gryffindor because of his parents, his destiny, his braveness…I mean it was in the prophet about that snake he stopped, even if he did lie about that Sirius man…he's a troubled fellow. But he has a good heart – and that's why he's in Gryffindor! So you see, the sorting hat is never wrong. You need to trust that."  
_Boom.  
_"Did you hear that mum?" Zoe asked sitting up straight. She had been just falling asleep when the noise had started her.  
"Hear…"  
"Shhh…listen…"  
There was silence for a moment…then…_boom…boom…BOOM…__**BOOM…**_

"It's definitely getting closer! What is that!" Zoe shrieked, panicked. Claire looked around in alarm.  
"Oh gods it's happening. No…not now!" she muttered.  
"Mum? What's happening!"  
"We have to leave." Claire said. She was fighting to keep her voice calm and steady, but there was a panic in her eyes that Zoe didn't miss.  
"What's going on? WHAT'S WRONG!" she shouted.  
"They've found you. Get up, put your clothes on, we're leaving. I have to get you to a safe place…"

Zoe grabbed a pair of jeans and a jumper and pulled them on as her mum ran around the house. The booming continued to get louder and closer, and Zoe could feel the fear in her throat, rising…dangerously close to the pounding in her brain. Claire led the way down the stairs and out the front door, but when she reached the car, she nearly collided with a small figure that seemed to be sleeping on the bonnet.  
"Whozeir!" It shouted, leaping up and waving a stick in the air.  
"Genie? Oh gods, thank the gods! We need your help! It's found her…it's coming." Claire shouted, pulling what was now apparent to be a young boy into her arms.  
"Genie?" Zoe asked looking closer. "Oh my god! You can walk? I thought…but…where's your chair!?" she asked incredulously. Genie was her best friend, on and off boyfriend (although you know these pre-high school relationships) and he was normally in a wheelchair as he lost the use of his legs in a car crash when he was five. Now however, he was standing perfectly fine, and looked like he was hopping from one foot to the other.  
"Hey, get in the car, I'll explain on the way to camp."


End file.
